Foxtails and Ice plant

Drithen – posted 16 August 2004 15:51

Hello,

My lawn is ice plant with a lot of foxtail grass popping up in clumps. We have a husky and he gets 3-8 foxtails embedded in his fur daily, which we have to pick out. Sometimes we miss them, which results in an infection- he’s had to have 3 surgically removed so far this year. It’s a serious problem and could kill him.

We’ve tried spraying weed killer, and I’ve tried just pulling them out, but they keep returning. The dead foxtail grass is more deadly then the live plant, as this drops the fibers which get in the dog’s coat.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 03 September 2004 11:06

Your ice plant may be too thin to provide any canopy to prevent the sun from hitting the ground. When the sun hits the foxtail seeds on the ground, they will sprout.

You might try dropping a lot of compost and mulch (2 inches) into the ice plant to shade out the soil areas where the foxtail is growing. If the foxtail roots in the mulch, at least it is easier to pull out and get the roots. I’m not sure if the mulch will affect the ice plant or not.

Are you watering at all? If so you might stop that to prevent the foxtail from getting enough water to sprout.